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Ignore the continuity that he dropped on you, all you need to get into the current series is RID and/or MTMTE volumes 1, they explain the little you need to understand in their first issues, and as a fan you already know the characters well enough to go with the flow on the rest.

Originally Posted by Chaddymac

I haven't been. I didn't come in early on and I'm so confused by the RID vs Spotlight vs regeneration vs Mtmte titles. Feels like too much to catch up on. Plus, i got burned by the dreamwave era, so i'm not inspired to jump back in.

If there were a simple to follow guide as to which books relate to which continuities, i might start with a few TPB's to see if I like it.

It's not the Dreamwave era, it's more consistent and thoughtfully-written than that, and it's a lot easier to follow than you think. RID and MTMTE are the current ongoing titles for the main G1 universe, they go hand-in-hand, and since they pick up from a major direction-changing event it's easy to jump in without all the spotlights (Spotlights take place within the "ongoing" lines usually but aren't necessary to the main storytelling) and previous ongoings and whatnot. They're worth reading if you like a more thoughtful, interesting take on Transformers after the war, how they deal with picking up the pieces and moving forward while reflecting on the past, that sort of thing. There are still battles and such, but it's very fan-oriented in how the stories are told from the way Transformers see them rather than trying to be a big battle for kiddies or a "hardcore" thing for newbies. Also, they don't have ads until the back of the comics and no ads in the trade paperback collections, obviously. And a lot of the character designs are from the Generations toys, so you already own many of the figures anyway (Jazz and Starscream are their FOC designs, for example).

I'd recommend getting TPBs of RID and MTMTE, at least Vol 1 of each, that's all you need to get started. They don't intertwine that much since MTMTE is an off-world quest while RID is on Cybertron, so you don't need both, but they're each good stories that take place concurrently.

Oh, and if you're feeling like you need something to set up MTMTE a little and be good on its own, Last Stand of the Wreckers is a stand-alone title (it was a 5-book miniseries but is a single TPB now) that is very engaging and tells the story of a bunch of nobodies who are sent into a suicide mission, it was quite good, the first book I picked up from IDW that made Transformers engaging on the page (I didn't enjoy the earlier IDW books I came across anywhere nearly as much, but I did like them more than the Dreamwave junk).

ReGeneration 1 picks up from the original Marvel series so it's only part of THAT storyline, not the IDW G1 main storyline. I know classic fans are loving it, I wasn't a heavy Marvel series reader so I haven't picked it up yet.

Originally Posted by El Chuxter

The original Marvel continuity is Classics, UK Classics, Regeneration One, and the first volume of G.I.Joe/Transformers. (Look for the newer versions of the Classics trades, though; the originals couldn't reprint any issues with Spider-Man or Circuit Breaker.)

The paperbacks for the IDW-verse are a bit complicated, but not too terribly bad (not as bad as G.I.Joe, which restarts at #1 every year). The first chunk is anything written by Simon Furman with a title ending in "-ation," along with all the Spotlight trade paperbacks and Stormbringer. The New Avengers crossover fits in here, but skip it. It's OOP, overpriced, and awful. The "-ations" paperbacks go in a particular order, with Stormbringer after the first ("Infiltration," IIRC), and the Spotlights fill in holes and add detail to characters. I wouldn't skip them, though. There's also Megatron: Origin, which was a Dreamwave leftover that was tweaked to fit in IDW.

The first soft reboot comes with All Hail Megatron. It was messy as hell, and they had to include four issues called "All Hail Megatron: Coda" and a miniseries called Maximum Dinobots to make it fit (mostly) in place.

After that is the ongoing series, which lasted about two years, and the Bumblebee and Ironhide paperbacks. (The paperbacks for the ongoing include a Galvatron miniseries as well.) Last Stand of the Wreckers and Drift fall in this period somewhere, but it's not too important to pin down exactly where. Somewhere in here is the IDW crossover, Infestation, which I would say skip, but it has some important developments for two main characters.

The second soft reboot ends the war (we think) and sees the RiD and MTMTE ongoing series. The Spotlights have been restarted, and are being collected, but the paperbacks are under a different name for some reason.

If you're interested, I can cross-check all my paperbacks and give you the proper reading order. Or IDW seems to be taking some of the older trades out of print (they're still easily available, except for the New Avengers one) and releasing thicker ones called The IDW Collection or something like that.

Dreamwave's stuff is still in limbo, but Vols. 2-3 of G.I.Joe/Transformers contain the four crossover volumes from Devil's Due. (I'd assume a fourth would come out if the rights to the Dreamwave-published series ever work out.)

Dude, seriously? This is why comics seem so daunting, too much baggage. Just have him start with RID and MTMTE, they're intended to be new jumping-in points, he doesn't need the full history lesson as each book speaks for itself pretty well without all the back-issues weighing him down. I'm trying to get folks in, not scare them off.

JT, they apparently do pull lists... but not for someone getting only a couple of titles.

That is utter crap in a hat! "We're too good for your money", screw them! My local shop let me put just MTMTE and RID on my pull list and they were HAPPY to do it, they're nice people who like comic books. Tell me what titles you want me to add to the pull-list here and I'll get them on my list and mail them to you once a month or something. Or tell that store to shove it and get your books from Comixology for half price on the computer. What jerks, that really bothers me!.

Anybody else voting on the fans choice poll?http://www.hasbro.com/transformers/e...T-BOT-POLL.cfm
Mine is a Decepticon Car that's got a long range blaster and is purple & bronze who is valiant. Nothing more annoying than a sniper who thinks he's just the best thing ever.

Darth Vader is becoming the Mickey Mouse of Star Wars.

"In Brooklyn, a castle, is where dwell I"

The use of a lightsaber does not make one a Jedi, it is the ability to not use it.

Point taken, JT. I was giving the full scope, but, yeah, MTMTE and RiD vols. 1 are the starting point. If you like them, I'd concur with JT on Last Stand of the Wreckers, but I'd also say definitely look for one volume of the previous series that's all flashbacks to Prime and Megatron's early relationship ("Chaos Theory," IIRC) and the Spotlight collection that contains the Wheelie Spotlight (yes, Wheelie, of all Bots); some of the MTMTE and RiD stories pick up on threads from those and, while they're not required prerequisites, they might offer some enlightenment.

The basic gyst of the where those two pick up: The war is finally ended. The Autobots are sort of victorious. I say "sort of" because Galvatron (who is NOT a Decepticon in this continuity, nor a version of Megatron, but an ancient Cybertronian who pre-dates the conflict) more or less used the Decepticons to defeat an entity from the "Dead Universe" (don't ask--it was basically a way to wrap up a long-running subplot that never went anywhere up to this point), leaving them weakened so the Autobots won. Megatron is missing, presumed dead, and Optimus Prime has stepped down from his role as Autobot Commander, taking his old name and job as lawman Orion Pax. Meanwhile, Cybertron has somewhat restored itself, and sent a homing beacon to millions of unaffiliated Cybertronians who left millennia ago to avoid the war....

Damn, not sure how I forgot this not once, but twice--If you like what you see in RiD and MTMTE, the other previous volume I'd look for is Autocracy. It's a digital-first comic co-written by Flint Dille that is the origin story of how Orion became Optimus in IDW, with tons of nods to the 1986 movie (mostly clever, and the few that aren't don't detract).

Point taken, JT. I was giving the full scope, but, yeah, MTMTE and RiD vols. 1 are the starting point. If you like them, I'd concur with JT on Last Stand of the Wreckers, but I'd also say definitely look for one volume of the previous series that's all flashbacks to Prime and Megatron's early relationship ("Chaos Theory," IIRC) and the Spotlight collection that contains the Wheelie Spotlight (yes, Wheelie, of all Bots); some of the MTMTE and RiD stories pick up on threads from those and, while they're not required prerequisites, they might offer some enlightenment.

The basic gyst of the where those two pick up: The war is finally ended. The Autobots are sort of victorious. I say "sort of" because Galvatron (who is NOT a Decepticon in this continuity, nor a version of Megatron, but an ancient Cybertronian who pre-dates the conflict) more or less used the Decepticons to defeat an entity from the "Dead Universe" (don't ask--it was basically a way to wrap up a long-running subplot that never went anywhere up to this point), leaving them weakened so the Autobots won. Megatron is missing, presumed dead, and Optimus Prime has stepped down from his role as Autobot Commander, taking his old name and job as lawman Orion Pax. Meanwhile, Cybertron has somewhat restored itself, and sent a homing beacon to millions of unaffiliated Cybertronians who left millennia ago to avoid the war....

You are so funny, you really do express yourself like a comic fan first and foremost, all those trimmings here and there, connections and points to target. It's so much simpler than you make it sound, and yet it can also be seen even more complicated.

You guys seen the Takara designer's tweeted pics of G1 Metroplex with Generations Metroplex yet?

I love the look of Metroplex, but, damn, there's just no way I can justify it. He'd have to go on clearance for more than 50% off, at which point I imagine he'd be impossible to get because everyone else on Earth would be after him at that price. I know it's not a healthy way to keep a line alive, waiting for clearance, but there's no bleeding way I can justify a toy who's almost a car payment and is bigger than my son.

I love the look of Metroplex, but, damn, there's just no way I can justify it. He'd have to go on clearance for more than 50% off, at which point I imagine he'd be impossible to get because everyone else on Earth would be after him at that price. I know it's not a healthy way to keep a line alive, waiting for clearance, but there's no bleeding way I can justify a toy who's almost a car payment and is bigger than my son.

That's too bad, it seems like it'd be a crown jewel in a collection. $125 doesn't seem so crazy for a figure this big, it's not worse than an AT-AT or something.

Originally Posted by Chaddymac

That would be my review as well. Found them both all alone at Burbank Kmart, of all places.

Huh, kmart, what the heck is up with that? That's a weird find. How much were they there?

Darth Vader is becoming the Mickey Mouse of Star Wars.

"In Brooklyn, a castle, is where dwell I"

The use of a lightsaber does not make one a Jedi, it is the ability to not use it.